git space between pretty format placeholders

Question

For some reason (this reason) I will probably have to run a git command like this:

git log --pretty=format:{\"author\":\"%aE <%aD>\"}

but it doesn't work and I obtain this error information:

fatal: ambiguous argument '<%aD>"}': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.

but the same command whithout the space works well:

git log --pretty=format:{\"author\":\"%aE<%aD>\"}

Do you know how to fix this or how to insert a space "programmatically" with another placeholder? Thanks!

Answer 1

Since you're not quoting the argument to --pretty, you have to escape the space, like:

git log --pretty=format:{\"author\":\"%aE\ <%aD>\"}

Otherwise <%aD>\"} will be interpreted as next argument.

Edit: Or instead try to quote the whole argument, e.g.

git log --pretty="format:{\"author\":\"%aE <%aD>\"}"

Edit2: The escape char for cmd seems to be ^, so try:

git log --pretty=format:{\"author\":\"%aE^ <%aD>\"}